Woman warns of scamming scheme

Mary Sue McIntyre believed the caller who told her she’d been randomly selected to receive $10,200 was from the government.

Amanda Memrick

Mary Sue McIntyre believed the caller who told her she’d been randomly selected to receive $10,200 was from the government.

But then she kept listening.

“The guy asked me to get a pen and paper and call a reference number. And they wanted my bank debit number, or I could give them a Walmart card number,” said McIntyre, 51.

The caller claimed to be with the federal government. She told the Stanley resident to call a number when she arrived at Western Union and someone would tell her where to send $153. She told the caller she couldn't go the Western Union right now.

She called the Better Business Bureau instead.

The BBB confirmed what McIntyre suspected. Whoever was calling was a scammer trying to trick people into sending money.

A week later, McIntyre got a phone call from the same number. This time the person said she’d get $7,000 and needed to send in $273.

“I want the public to be aware of this, especially with some of the senior citizens,” McIntyre said. “A lot of the senior citizens, if they’re giving out their bank numbers and stuff, they’re going to get scammed and they’re going to get (their bank accounts) drained.”

Janet Hart of the Better Business Bureau of Southern Piedmont called the attempt a robo-call scam. Anyone who gets a call like that should refuse to give personal information. They should tell the person not to call again and try to block the number.

If someone calls and says you’ve won something, that points to fraud, Hart said.

McIntyre was right to worry about older adults being duped. The typical victims of these scams tend to be older adults and people whose first language isn’t English.

“As people are filing their taxes, especially if they’re anticipating getting their refund back, it’s prime time for scammers,” Hart said. “If the IRS has money for you, or if the government needs to contact you for some reason, they are not going to call you and they are not going to send you an email.”

Individuals run these scams, Hart said. Typically they’re calling from Canada or Nigeria, which makes the scheme almost impossible to stop. The people buy telephone and various mailing lists.

The scammers called McIntyre on her cell phone. She’s not sure how they found her number. After multiple calls, McIntyre told the scammer she had contacted the BBB and she knew the caller was stealing from people. She told the person not to call back again.

“The good news is people are getting the message,” Hart said. “They need to treat phone calls and emails with a healthy dose of skepticism.”

You can reach reporter Amanda Memrick at 704-869-1839 or follow @AmandaMemrick on Twitter.